My last Ebay transaction went great. Because I circumvented Ebay and Paypal. I chose "pay by other credit card" and it hassled me a couple times to use paypal (not gonna happen. Crooks) and got an email telling me to arrange payment with the seller on my own accord. I ended up calling the seller (store), gave him my credit card info, and added another item to my order. I dealt straight with the store (and Clint, good guy) and had no issues at all.

Yeah, I stopped selling altogether a little while back and recently stopped buying. Well, for the most part. I'll buy stupid little things that are hard to find elsewhere. Like I bought my wife a cheap braclet for a $1 with $1 shipping. I don't care if I'm out $2

I bought my first 360 game this weekend and if it goes well I might keep that up and then just take them to game stop when I'm done with them. I go through games fairly slowly though since I only play at night on the weekend after the kids are asleep. I haven't payed more than $20 for a game since I got my 360 and don't plan on paying more than that.

The thing that really bugs me is people charging $20+ for USPS Parcel Post or UPS ground for an item that would easily go for $8 or less.
If I'm interested in the item, I'll let them know that and ask about the shipping. I usually get something along the lines of, "I have to get a box and spend time wrapping it. Then there's driving to the post office, that takes gas, and I have to pay postage."

So, I simply let them know that the Post Office provides free boxes which can be delivered to your door for free, and on top of that, you can pay online. After that, all you have to do is leave it at your mail box, and your carrier will pick it up on the next run. All this saves you time, money (save a few cents buying online, too), and gas! Yay!

99% of the time, if I get a response, they simply say, "Well, this is how I've been doing it, and I'm not changing."
People always want things free and easy. I show them how it can be that way, and they're too greedy making a few extra dollars off shipping to change.

__________________
Deutronomy 29:29 ESVThe secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

fyi,the USPS online system is seriously wacko the shipping cost's provided are way off ebays shipping calculators are waaaay off and they admit that,it takes epic ammounts of time to get the "free" boxes wich are ONLY for priority use,the boxes are limited in shape and size and you dont allways get what you order there are alot of holes in your theory,ive tried many alternate methods,its not unreasonable at all to charge for the box,the tape and the gas,overheads a bi*ch

what is unreasonable is what alot of sellers do now 1. offer the item at a stupid low price then add the actual price of the item to the shipping charge.

2.and what even more sellers do now is calculate all the fees ebay and paypal are raping them with and add them into the shipping instead of the item price

but thats none of my buisiness they are only hurting thier own sales

all in all though a few things buyers never seem to understand,auctions are not message boards your opinion on the item or cost is your own,keep it to yourself

NO ONE at all is holding a gun to your head telling you you have to buy that item,read the entire auction if you dont like the shipping,cost,description,move along and plain and simple dont buy it.

I know the limits on those free boxes. I receive exactly what I ordered in about 4-5 days and get enough to last me over the year. I also know how well the items I'm interested in that they want $20 to ship would fit into one of those boxes. Heck, worst case you can fit it into a Flat Rate($10) or Large Flat Rate($14) box. If I can fit an A5 with cyclone and hopper with 14" barrel and RF cocker with 12" barrel and other bits and pieces in a Large Flate Rate box well, they can fit that nelson clone in one in a worst case scenario.

In the situations I've experienced, there has been no reason at all to charge $20+ for something that at worst case can go for $14. If they aren't willing to adjust charges to something reasonable, I don't buy. I fill them in on the benefits of USPS.com and if they don't decide to take advantage of that, I move on.

In my years of buying, selling, and trading, I've never had to buy a box. If it wouldn't fit in a USPS box, I combine two in some fashion and wrap it in brown paper bag. Apart from the uncommon occasion of using First Class and therefore having to drive to the PO, the most "overhead" I pay for is tape, $5 for four 50m rolls. That's only once-twice a year, too.

If a seller isn't a store, charging for handling is plain silly.

__________________
Deutronomy 29:29 ESVThe secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

it takes me months to get boxes from usps and they never ship what i order,they have over quoted shipping a million times making me look like i over charged someone,if you get caught modifying a USPS box its a crime one less thing i need to deal with,our post office and postal workers will not accept them modified,you should be buying proper boxes that fit items correctly thats a serious risk your taking with the item but thats all you

i have been selling on ebay for over ten years now and thats what i have experienced im glad your experince has been better

Hm, the closest thing to the altering a box issue I've heard is you can't add on to a flat rate box and get the flat rate. Other than that, I've only been told that they have to be used for mailing only.

__________________
Deutronomy 29:29 ESVThe secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Hm, the closest thing to the altering a box issue I've heard is you can't add on to a flat rate box and get the flat rate. Other than that, I've only been told that they have to be used for mailing only.

I've hacked up numerous priority mail boxes and assembled them together with tape to fit a bigger package/item. Never had an issue shipping them, and i have done it over 15 times now. Like was said, you just can't mess with flat rate boxes. Those are set that the box must be x by x by x dimensions, no greater, even by a few millimeters.

i stopped using ebay years ago. Unless the thing i want is long lost and i don't think anyone else in the world will have it, i avoid ebay. After getting raped in the *** in shipping from a certain unnamed paintball place in cali on one of my first pb buying sprees on ebay ($50 in shipping to ship less then 2lbs of stuff that fit in a small priority mail box), i have learned to read the shipping rules, and if i see "will not combine on shipping" then i just move on.

__________________my photobucket - Marker animations - MCB Feedback - Ebay Feeback"No matter how strong, for a human to fight a monster means he has submerged his humanity and transformed himself into a greater monster." - Schierke "If you are always worried about crushing the ants beneath you, you won't be able to walk." - Guts